Affectionate Rebirth
by Chibi Yuuki-Chan
Summary: 17 months have passed since the Winter War and Karin hasn't seen or heard from Toshiro since. Just when she was beginning to believe that the white haired captain may have died during the war, she finds the person himself collapsed in front of her house, half-dead and in a gigai. HitsuKarin. AU.
1. Prologue

**A/N:**

**A NEW FANFICTION! Don't forgot to review!**

**Summary:**

**17 months have passed since the Winter War and Karin hasn't seen or heard from Toshiro since. Just when she was beginning to believe that the white haired captain may have died during the war, she finds the person himself collapsed in front of her house, half-dead and in a gigai. HitsuKarin. AU.**

**Disclaimer:**

**I do NOT own Bleach in any way, shape, or form. It belongs to their respective owner, Tite Kubo.**

* * *

Prologue…

"War? You're going to war?" The raven-haired girl asked in a choked voice filled with sadness and worry, the dark lighting in the room worsening the atmosphere. Her shoulders trembled slightly and she gripped the sheets on her bed tightly in anxiety as she stared down at the wooden floor.

She wouldn't dare look at him. She couldn't bring herself to look into his teal eyes, for she knew that if she did, all of her emotions – sadness, loneliness, weakness – would be discovered in her moist gray eyes. She couldn't bear the thought of having the opportunity of looking into his captivating teal eyes for what may be the last time and yet she didn't because of some stupid ego of hers. The fear of losing him in battle and not being able to lose herself in those same eyes was simply too much for her to endure. Biting her lower lip, the girl raised her head slowly and found herself absorbed into his teal eyes with her upturned eyes. Before she realized it, she had immediately released the tears she had fought back for so long just by having one look at his face. The pain and the fear of losing another person close to her was just too great for her to bear and she broke into small sobs, reverting her gaze on the ground.

The figure in front of the window seemed to be slightly taken aback, frowning as he watched the tears drop from her face and onto the floor. Sighing and unsure of what to do, he removed his zanpakuto from his shinigami attire and was about to place it by the window before pausing. Staring at the green sash that was wrapped around his zanpakuto in his hand, he decided to remove the sash. After not too long, the sash was removed, leaving only the zanpakuto in its sheath near the window and the star clip in his left hand and the sash in his right.

He approached the now quietly sobbing girl and sat down on her bed beside her, grabbing her right hand into his left. Startled, the girl shot her head up from the view of the wooden floor and into his teal eyes.

"Karin," he began, looking at her tear-stained face with an unknown emotion in his eyes as he placed the green sash into her hand and closed her fingers around it, "I want you to keep this for me. So when I come back, and I promise I will, I want you to return it to me."

"But, Toshiro," she hiccupped between breaths, "what about your sword?"

He shook his head and wiped the tears off her face. "I'll find something. Don't worry about it."

"No. Wait." She ordered, having somewhat calmed down, and got off the bed, leaving a somewhat puzzled Toshiro.

The girl scurried around the room in search of something like a squirrel jumping from one tree to another, collecting acorns. After one minute of watching her run around the room, the white-haired boy laid back onto her bed and placed his arms behind his head to relax. Almost having dozed off during the wait, Toshiro looked at the golden star clip in his left hand. Not really thinking too much about it, he grasped it tightly in his hand, almost capable of forming a complete fist with the clip in his hand. Feeling a weight being added on top of his abdomen, his thoughts were shattered as he realized Karin's face was in front of him, only a few inches away from his.

Karin had calmed down considerably after being consoled and reassured of his return from the war by giving her his sash. He felt rather relieved when the raven-haired girl simply accepted his proposal. Truth to be told, even he himself wasn't sure if he was going to come back from the war alive, but he had to stay strong for Karin. Sure, he had given her his sash as a promise of his return, but to him, it would also serve as a momento – what it would signify if he really did die during the war. It was something for her to confide in when she missed or needed him. Something to remind her that he would always be there by her side, even if he wasn't physically there. All he hoped now that if he were to lose his life, his momento wouldn't cause her unnecessary grief or sadness or give her bad memories from when he was around. However, Karin is a strong girl, a strong and sensible girl, so worrying about the negative aspect of his notion probably wouldn't matter.

"… iro… shiro… Toshiro!"

"Huh?" His thoughts were once again shattered by Karin calling his name. He was so lost in thought that he unknowingly made a stupid expression after being called back to Earth.

A chuckle escaped her lips as she looked down at him with a gentle smile. "What's with that stupid look?"

Feeling the heat rush up to his cheeks, he quickly looked away, hoping that she wouldn't notice the slight blush and that the dark might help in this cause. "Shut up. I was thinking. Anyways," he looked back at her, fighting the blush down, "why are you sitting on me?"

"Oh. That's because you were so lost in thought that you didn't hear me calling you until I sat on you. When you did notice me, you got lost in thought again." After giving her reason, she eyed the clip in the boy's hand and opened her mouth to say something. Shaking her head immediately after, she revealed a gold chain, dangling it in front of Toshiro's face. "Ta da! You can use this. Now, give me your clip, so I can put it on."

Toshiro stared at the clip in his hand for a while before finally answering. "… Is it even strong enough to hold Hyorinmaru?" She grunted in frustration and swiped the clip from the boy's hand. "Watch it! You almost took my hand off!"

"Just shut up and take it." She snapped as she connected the two together, ignoring the glare that was sent her way. After she handed it back to him, she looked at him with serious eyes that almost seemed like they were pleading to him. "The same goes for me. When you come back, be sure to give it back to me. Okay?"

The glare was immediately replaced by a small smile that Toshiro only allows a few people to see. "You bet."

"Stay safe… And," she paused to close the already short distance between their lips, "make sure you come back to me."

Instead of being bewildered by the sudden notion, a gentle expression filled with affection adorned his face. "Yeah. Damn right, I will." He confirmed confidently before bringing her face down to crash her lips into his for a compassionate kiss.

* * *

**A/N:**

**How was it? Did you like it? I hope you did. Please review!**

**P.S. Please do take the poll that's on my profile regarding a part in this story.**


	2. 17 Months Later

**A/N:**

**Thank you for the reviews. I hope you all continue to support me. First off, thanks to The Second Quincy for her usual awesome work and support and The Endless Hourglass for her assistance and kindness as well.**

**Enjoy and review please!**

* * *

"Hey, Karin," a girl with light brown hair grabbed the raven-haired girl's attention in a sing song voice, "how about we go do some karaoke? It'll be fun. What do you think?" The girl asked excitedly, staring expectantly at the girl walking beside her. Thinking that Karin would automatically say no, she had even prepared to make her puppy dog eyes to convince her. As she waited for her twin to look at her, her face became to one of disappointment after realizing that she was obviously being ignored. "Karin! You're ignoring me again!" She pouted.

"Hmm? Were you saying something, Yuzu?" Karin asked somewhat indifferently, but was still curious as to what her sister was saying to her.

"Geez, Karin..." The pouting girl huffed, stomping her feet comically as she walked beside the raven-haired girl. "You've been spacing out a lot lately. Well," she paused, putting her hand on her chin to think, "maybe lately is the wrong term." She paused once again to think harder. "No, wait. You HAVE been spacing a lot lately. Hmm... Maybe, that's not it either."

"Just make up your mind already..." Karin sweatdropped at Yuzu's indecisiveness.

"I meant that you started spacing out ever since Onii-chan came back from the war and we found out that Dad was a shinigami. That sure was surprising, wasn't it?" Yuzu recalled with a small smile on her face. "I wonder why I didn't get any reiastu when you and Onii-chan did..." A frown immediately replaced her smile as the girl sulked to herself.

"Yuzu," Karin started, looking at her sister from the corner of her eye, "what was your point?" She questioned, reminding her twin of her original purpose of bringing that up. Even after all this time, Yuzu still had the tendency of going off task. 'Well, it's only natural, I suppose. Someone had to get the old goat's craziness in them.' Karin mused to herself as she waited for Yuzu to answer.

"Oh, right. You started spacing out then, but lately it's gotten much worse. I wonder why's that?" She wondered. Suddenly, a gasp escaped her lips as she remembered her original topic before that. "Ah! That's right!" Yuzu panicked, flailing her arms around. "Karin, let's go karaoking."

"Don't wanna." She flat out refused.

However, that was a big mistake. A pair of brown puppy dog eyes appeared in front of Karin, making her stop in her tracks. She sweatdropped as she watched the brown-haired girl speak in a sweet tone that no normal person could ever refuse - not even her.

"Can we pwease go karoaking? Pwease!"

Karin felt her determination falter as she felt tempted by her sister's secret move - Cute Puppy Dog - Baby Speech Attack. Yuzu knew this attack was highly effective against Karin and started using it more often when it was something that she wanted no matter what. You'd think that after using it so many times, it would lose its charm, but instead, it seemed to be getting more effective with each use - almost as if it was being perfected.

"A-ah... Y-you could go on your own, in that case." Karin slightly stuttered as she slowly backed away from the sparkly twin.

"Karin," the said girl could've sworn she saw dog ears flatten on Yuzu's head, "you won't come with me?"

"Ah! N-no! I didn't say that. I-its just that I have," she paused for a second, frantically trying to think of something to say, "something else to do. Yeah, that's right! Something very important that I have to attend to." She nodded in satisfaction - mainly to herself - as she placed her hand on her chin with closed eyes.

"Really?" Yuzu questioned with narrowed eyes and puffed out cheeks. "Then, take me with you. We could go later. Ururu and Jinta wouldn't mind waiting."

"No, you can't come with me." Karin tried speaking as normally as she could, but it seemed that Yuzu already had her figured out.

"That's because you don't really have anywhere to go." Yuzu stared into the twin's gray eyes with piercing brown ones.

"..." Karin sighed in resignation as she began leading the way again, leaving a slightly confused and disappointed Yuzu. "...Let's go then."

"Hai!" Yuzu beamed as she quickly followed the black-haired girl.

Karin let out a small smile as she briefly looked at Yuzu from the corner of her eye and then up into the orange tainted sky as the sun set slowly into the horizon.

It's been 17 months since the Winter War ended and Ichigo returned home after losing his shinigami powers. Their dad, Isshin, had also revealed the fact about him being a former captain of Soul Society. It was a shock to everyone at first, but after thinking over it with a calm mind, all of the pieces of the puzzle fit perfectly. Although Isshin did mention that, he didn't, however, reveal anything else to them as to what he did, which squad was he captain of, his zanpakuto's abilities, or anything else pertained to his past. When questioned why he refused to answer them, he replied with his usual goofy smile, saying that "it's all in the past now, so none of that really matters".

Leaving that aside, what Karin's younger self wanted to know the most at that time was Toshiro Hitsugaya. As soon as that name left her lips, an unknown emotion adorned her father's face and a shocked expression was on Ichigo's. After asking Isshin and Ichigo how the ice captain's condition was again, they both averted their gaze saying that they "didn't know" and "many were fatally injured". Ichigo, however, did mention that the last time he saw the white-haired captain was when he had accidently stabbed a brown-haired girl in the heart, thinking it was Aizen. Karin's expression paled as soon as those words left his lips and Ichigo failed to mention on purpose the part where the boy was also cut down by Aizen after being blinded with fury. Surprising both of the males, Karin dropped the subject rather quickly all the while hoping that she would see the white-haired captain soon. However, it has been 17 months since then and she never saw or heard from him nor did she see any other shinigami from Soul Society.

Shaking her head slightly to distract herself from thinking negative thoughts, she looked over at her twin that was humming to herself in glee while following closely behind Karin. Yuzu's hair was longer now and ended right above her shoulders. She had also removed the strawberry pins from her hair and started wearing normal ones – or so you'd think, but that part hasn't changed at all, the normal pins are actually the change in Yuzu's hairstyle.

Leaving that aside, she had certainly grown physically, but the same can't necessarily be said about her mental growth. It's not like she didn't grow at all in that field, but it definitely did change - whether it be for the best or for the worst is entirely up to the situation you find yourself in with Yuzu. For example, Ichigo's had a lot of difficulty lately with Yuzu's attitude. Now that she's older, she wants more attention as well as wishes to impress Ichigo in many ways than one so that she is praised by him. It's only a small desire and a perfectly normal phase for any younger sister at this age to want extra attention from her older brother. However, Ichigo is after all Ichigo - a dense, clueless, impulsive teen with no idea on how to please a girl whether it's his sister or girlfriend - so her attempts almost always end with the poor girl running away screaming "I don't care anymore".

However, Yuzu wasn't the only that had changed so much during these 17 months; Karin had also changed. Wearing shorts only every now and then, most of her closet consisted of multiple skirts of every kind and color – each with intricate girly designs that were totally not Karin's taste. It's not like she wanted to, but Yuzu had finally managed to convince the tomboy by saying "it's the school uniform now, so you have to get used to it". Karin had also grown her hair out long enough that she now wears it into a ponytail using the keepsake that was given to her, Toshiro Hitsugaya's green sash - well, ribbon technically since its used as a hair accessory now.

Even after all this time, the ribbon still served as his promise of his return to her. Wearing it every day, she awaited his return, refusing to believe that he may have died during the war. It was something that she held dearly and close to her heart. Just as he had hoped, it served as her glimmer of hope, pushing her forward through any difficulty - large or small - while reminding her of his memories of when he was with her. But now, after so much time, her faith was beginning to falter. Maybe after all, he did –.

"Oi! Karin! Yuzu!" yelled a red-haired boy from in front of a store they knew all too well. A girl with long black hair with a tint of purple in it was also standing by the boy, waving to the twins as the boy kept shouting. "Over here! What took you so long?"

Yuzu ran from behind the Karin up to the boy and girl, apologizing with a sweet smile. "Sorry, Jinta, Ururu. Karin was trying to make excuses again."

A slight blush appeared on Jinta's face as he looked away from the girl's bright smile in attempt to sound and look grumpy. "W-well, I guess it's alright then." Looking from the corner of his eyes at Karin that had stopped walking and gazing at the sky, Jinta yelled at her. "Hey! First, you make Yuzu come late and now you're day-dreaming?!"

Glancing at Jinta with a still half-dazed expression, Karin apologized with a small smile, leaving a dumbstruck expression on the boy's face. "Ah, sorry."

"Karin," Jinta began as he eyed her cautiously, "are you sick or something?"

"Hmm?"

Feeling more dumbfounded at the tomboy's actions and reactions, he sweatdropped as he tried speaking coherently. "Uh... Well... It's just that... normally you... N-nevermind. Come on, Yuzu, Ururu." He turned around briskly, walking into Urahara's store. After walking reaching the door and realizing that Karin wasn't behind them, he turned around asking in an irritated tone. "Damn it, Karin! Aren't you coming?!"

'Well, I'll be sure to knock some sense into him when he comes back for making me wait so long.' She finished her thoughts before feeling her lips curve up into a smirk as she glared at Jinta, snapping at him. "Shut up, bird-brain! I'm coming."

The boy was taken aback, mumbling to himself as he resumed walking. "What the hell? Now, she's back to normal."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, you retired tomboy!"

"Retired?! Why you little –?! Shut up and go make yourself useful, moocher junior!"

"Don't go comparing me to that moocher!"

"Oh? And why not? Last time I checked, you two look very similar."

"WE ARE NOT SIMILAR! I am definitely much cooler than that loser."

"Pfft. You? Cooler? Don't make me laugh."

* * *

Closing the door swiftly after hearing loud voices argue amongst themselves just outside their room, the shopkeeper leaned against the door, looking at his silent guest with only the dim orange tint of the sun's light shining in the room.

"Ara, ara, it sure is nice being young, don't you agree?" asked the shopkeeper in a cheerful tone as he waved his fan around.

"…" The guest sighed in annoyance and turned in his gaze to the side, waiting for the crazy shopkeeper to go back to what they were discussing earlier.

"Ah, that's good. I was sure that you'd agree with me, being the –."

"I didn't even say anything, damn it!" The figure snapped.

"Now, now… It may be in your best interest to quiet down." Urahara warned with his fan still covering his face. "You don't want **her** to know that you're here, do you?" After receiving a hesitant, annoyed look from his guest, the shopkeeper closed his fan as he took a seat. "Anyways, so how does it feel?"

"About that… You sure you didn't do anything weird to it?" He asked while stretching his arms to check out the new gigai that was given to him. "It feels weird like you did something else to it." He looked at the shopkeeper fanning himself with a suspicious glare. "Urahara, you didn't do anything, did you?"

"Ah, Taichou," Urahara began, acting hurt as he covered his face with his fan, "don't be like that. It's probably because it's been a long time since you came here."

"Maybe. I just don't like the way these gigai feel, especially this one." The person said in resignation, not wanting to continue the subject. "I'll be leaving now, but," he paused for a while to get off the floor, "keep in mind, if something –"

Suddenly, the door opened abruptly, revealing a slightly puzzled Karin as she looked into the room. Yuzu came up from behind her and also peered into the room.

"What's the matter, Karin?" Yuzu questioned.

"Kurosaki, is there something you needed from me?" The shopkeeper asked while drinking his tea without looking at the girl.

"Ah, no. It's nothing." She answered as she walked away after having one last look inside the room. "Come on, Yuzu."

Yuzu looked at her sister's receding back and then at Urahara before quickly apologizing and running after Karin. "Karin, what happened?" She asked curiously.

Not listening to Yuzu, the girl unknowingly answered the curious twin's question while mumbling to herself. "That's strange. I thought I heard someone else in there. I couldn't feel a presence though."

Meanwhile, the shopkeeper sighed with relief shortly after the fraternal twins left. "That was a close one… He already left though."

* * *

**A/N:**

**So, how was it? Did you like it? Love it? Hate it? Indifferent on the matter?**

**Well, no matter how you felt, be sure to shoot me a review. Okay?**

**REVIEW!**


	3. Unexpected Meeting

**A/N:**

**Sorry for taking a long time to update. I hope you enjoy it.**

**Also, thanks to all of those that reviewed. I hope you give me the pleasure to receive your reviews once again.**

**Enjoy! Don't forget to review!**

* * *

The light-brown haired girl hummed happily entering the Kurosaki household, bobbing her head and waving her arms side-by-side as she walked ahead of her black-haired twin. While Yuzu was filled with energy and adrenaline from the karaoke she had with Ururu and Jinta, Karin was completely drained out, walking lazily with her back slumped forward and schoolbag thrown over her shoulder - similar to the way Ichigo walks whenever he went to and from school.

Following closely behind the bubbly twin, Karin dragged her feet in the house and immediately slouched onto the couch, sighing exhaustedly after throwing her arms over the armrest. Deciding soon after that she wasn't comfortable enough, she laid down on the couch so that her feet were resting comfortably on the soft cushions of the couch and her arms were thrown over one of armrests with her chin on top of her arms.

Seeing her black-haired sister sprawl onto the couch lazily, Yuzu let out a chuckle and walked back to Karin, trying hard not to let her twin know that she was being laughed at. "Good work, Karin, and," a gentle sweet smile adorned Yuzu's face, "thank you."

"Huh?" Karin looked up lazily with a hint of confusion swirling in her tired gray eyes. "What are you talking about? I didn't do anything."

The kind twin shook her head lightly, clarifying part of Karin's confusion. "Thank you for coming with me." She then bent down, pulling Karin into a hug, wrapping her arms gently around her twin's head and whispered into her ear. "Also, good work for bearing with my selfish request, even though I knew that you didn't want to go."

The confusion in her eyes was replaced with a soft gaze as she snuggled closer to Yuzu. "It's fine. I didn't really mind."

As if to ruin the gentle atmosphere around the girls at that moment, a breathless Ichigo stormed into the house and immediately pinned his back against the front door. Beads of sweat were trailing down the teen's forehead as he tried to catch his breath, not realizing that the twins were back home until Karin's voice startled him.

"Ichi-nii...?" She spoke with uncertainty as her brother's head shot up to look at her sitting on the couch with Yuzu standing beside the couch tilting her head. "Are you okay?"

Just as Ichigo was about to speak, an angry voice that seemed to belong to a woman roared from the other side of the door. "Ichigo! Open the hell up! First, you come to me looking for a job and then, the next day, you call me to let me know that you're not coming for a week!" The sound of banging rained down on the door from the other side as the teen visibly panicked, unsure of what to do. "Kurosaki Ichigo, you better open that door immediately before I make you open it."

After hearing those words, the twins looked at each other, both equally confused until Karin decided to speak up. "Isn't that Ichi-nii's boss?"

* * *

Karin leaned against her bedroom window as she absent-mindedly stared at the raindrops hitting the ground mercilessly. She breathed on the glass, making a cloud of condensation, and placed her right hand almost longingly on the window as she thought back on the previous event that occurred in her room only a few hours ago.

_Breathing a sigh of relief as soon as she entered her room, Karin laid on top of her bed, feeling exhausted after witnessing her brother attempt to escape his boss's clutches and was inevitably dragged away._

_As soon as Yuzu opened the door and Ichigo was being held down by Karin as best as she could, a woman with black hair tied in a ponytail and gray eyes that was being covered by a brown hat with goggles stomped into the Kurosaki household. The woman looked around for a bit until her eyes laid on the struggling orange-haired teen. Upon having their eyes meet, Ichigo visibly paled and began struggling even more in Karin's grasp, but was caught off guard upon being released almost immediately, The woman took advantage of this and grabbed the teen by the collar, yelling insults and complaints in his face. A wry smile appeared on Ichigo's face as he tried reasoning and apologizing to the woman. Noticing almost immediately that he wasn't being listened to, he decided to try his luck on escaping and managed to pry the lady's fingers off his collar. However, it seemed that was exactly what she wanted and grabbed him by the back of his shirt the moment Ichigo turned around. Karin and Yuzu quietly watched, completely dumbfounded, as their brother was being dragged away like baggage by whom they were sure was none other than his boss, Unagiya Ikumi._

_Karin let out a small laugh after remembering the angry yet devastated expression on her brother's face as he was being "abducted". She stared up at the ceiling until she felt another presence in the room. Karin felt her heart beat faster as she felt a figure standing by the window from the corner of her eyes. She glanced eagerly in that direction with a huge smile on her face, but that smile soon faltered after realizing that the figure belonged to her sister._

_With her forehead resting on the window and one of her palms on the window, Yuzu was looking outside with an unusually sullen look on her face as the rain pattered against the glass. After realizing that Karin was in the room, Yuzu turned around with a small smile as the occasional lightening lit up the room. Yuzu looked at her sister with a sort of sadness in her brown eyes - almost like pity - after stealing a look at the green ribbon wrapped around her sister's wrist._

_"I never really asked you this before, but," she paused to point at the ribbon, "that ribbon... It belonged to Hitsugaya-kun, right?"_

_Karin frowned, gripping the wrist that had the ribbon. "Who told you-?"_

_"Ururu and Jinta did." She answered quickly, intercepting her sister's question. Yuzu walked up to Karin and held her hand, gently going over the ribbon as a light laugh escaped her lips as if ridiculing herself. "I can't believe that I didn't realize it earlier... You're still waiting for him, aren't you? Even after all this time, do you still believe that he'll come back to you?" She asked, looking up into her sister's gray eyes with her brown moist ones._

_Karin pulled her hand away, looking at the ribbon with blurry vision. "Yeah," she responded quietly, forcing a smile as she glanced back at Yuzu, "he'll come back..." Tears began to run down her face as she managed to choke out her voice. "After all, he promised... using this ribbon and... by taking my gold chain."_

_The usually bubbly twin smiled at Karin with a forced smile of her own and warmly wrapped her arms around her twin's frame to comfort Karin in her embrace, allowing a few tears to escape her brown eyes. "I hope that's true. For your sake, I truly hope that it's true."_

The sound of thunder and the slight vibration of the glass under the raven-haired girl's palm snapped the girl back to her senses. While thinking about retiring to bed, Karin watched as some of the leaves broke off the branches of the tree from being violently shaken by the wind. Gray eyes were tempted to hide behind her eyelids by listening to the rain hit the glass and they almost succeeded before being blinded by the lightning's bright light. Shaking her head, Karin took one last glance outside and was about to leave until something unusual caught her eye.

Amongst the few inches of water on the ground, a stream of red was mixed into it, spreading around from the different currents in the water. Gray eyes narrowed as they followed the weak red color slowly turn darker. Due to the pouring rain, finding the exact source turned out to be a difficult task since the raindrops were distorting the water on the ground and the red water had spread on a greater surface area. After concentrating as hard as she could muster, she found the stream – no, the distorted pool of red water - end just beyond her house, but as she feared the source wasn't in a place where she could see clearly from her bedroom window.

Feeling concerned, she quickly but quietly left her bedroom without waking up Yuzu. As soon as she entered the corridor, she ran down the steps with nimble feet, not worrying about waking her brother since he slept like a log through almost anything. Also, her father left on a business trip and still won't return for at least another few days, so no worries on that part either.

Upon reaching the door, Karin glanced around hastily for an umbrella to use, in case it came in handy. Finding a dark blue umbrella on the floor, she grabbed it immediately and dashed out the door, hastily opening the umbrella as soon as she stepped foot outside the door. Having forgotten to wear any kind of footwear, her bare feet made contact with the dirty water, making it splatter on her pajamas as she urgently ran forward. The closer she got to the source that was just beyond her house, her clothes slowly became colored with red.

Before she realized it, she had reached her desired destination but was completely dumbfounded as she found herself staring at an unusual scene. A group of stray dogs and alley cats, drenched in water and covered in filth as well as what seemed like blood, were gathered around in a circle as if they were a group of people gathering around a single person. Sighing in relief thinking that it was an injured, probably dead, stray animal, Karin began walking away. Not even walking two steps, she felt a corner of her pant leg being pulled by something.

Looking back with a confused expression, she found a little white puppy, blood staining his face and one of his ears, staring up at her with expectant blue eyes. The girl felt her gaze soften as she watched the puppy pull on her leg persistently, trying to lead her to the center of the gathered circle, but was unable to due to its small size.

Karin bent down and patted the animal's head, speaking in a quiet tone as if consoling the puppy. "You poor thing… I'm sorry that something terrible like that happened. I bet you must be feeling lonely now," she paused as an image of Toshiro suddenly came to mind, "and probably even desperate to save him. But judging by that blood loss, it's probably too late for me to do anything. I'm sorry." She patted him for one last time and got up while mumbling the last part to herself. "To not be able to do anything for him for you."

Suddenly, the puppy started barking defiantly with determination gleaming in its eyes as it once again began pulling on her pant leg. Karin looked down in surprise, not understanding at all as to why the dog wouldn't back down. Watching the puppy attempt to use all of its strength just to pull her to the other animals, the raven-haired girl sighed in resignation and began walking up to the gathered animals.

Upon seeing Karin, the animals slowly dispersed one-by-one to make way for the girl. As she passed by each one, she received barks and meows from them as if they were supporting or even encouraging her. Karin was beginning to feel uneasy the closer she stepped to the center.

Just as she feared, a gasp escaped her lips and her hands trembled, releasing the umbrella as it fell onto the ground with a clunk. Her gray eyes widened as they landed on a human figure lying in a pool of blood mixed with rainwater. The figure belonged to a slim yet muscular white-haired boy that seemed to be hardly breathing, lying on his side drenched in water and his own blood.

"T-Toshiro…?"

* * *

**A/N:**

**How was that? Shocking, right?**

**Review and tell me how you felt about it!**

**(I hope the part with the dog wasn't lame or anything… I thought it would be more dramatic in a sense.)**

**Don't forget to REVIEW!**


	4. Life & Death Situation

**A/N:**

**I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so so sorry!**

**I meant to update a long time ago, but failed to do so! I am so incredibly sorry!**

**School is such an evil existence… Not only that, but I have a tyrant best friend who makes me draw for her day and night! _**

**Well, leaving that aside, I hope that you enjoy this chapter as my apology to all of you.**

**Don't forget to review, especially if you find it in your heart to forgive this poor author's soul.**

* * *

As raindrops fell onto the raven-haired girl's face like tears, Karin looked at the scene before her with a shocked expression as mixed emotions ran through her being. As she proceeded with shaky footsteps towards the unconscious white-haired boy, she prayed that the half-dead person in front of her wasn't the boy named Toshiro Hitsugaya. The poor boy was so badly injured and all of that blood loss was sure to have spelled his death, but no one else had hair as white as _his_.

With each footstep closer to her destination, another part of her had found a small light of hope that this person absolutely – no, in fact, _had_ to be him. Even with severe wounds as those, she would do anything in her power to save him. However, her negative thoughts overpowered her optimistic ones as she once again began praying to Kami while kneeling beside the boy with her hands ready to move his limp body to get a better view of his face.

'It's not Toshiro… It can't be.' She chanted in her mind over and over again like a mantra.

Gently turning his face towards her, tears began to overflow from her eyes as she studied the boy's face, praying that he was still alive. The deathly pale boy's facial structure was different from the Toshiro she knew. It was much more mature and manly, complementing the boy's height that wasn't the same as Toshiro's. Certainly, his hair was the same snow-colored hair as Toshiro, but the style was completely different. Rather than that gravity-defying hair she knew so well, the boy's hair framed his face rather well, especially with the lock of hair framing the left side of his face – just like Toshiro's.

Shaking her head to rid herself of all negative thoughts, she let her eyes wander away from his face to his torso. His green T-shirt was stained crimson with his blood and through the ripped fabric, she cringed at the severe injuries. The flesh on his torso was ripped mercilessly through as if an animal had slain him, leaving three deep wounds diagonally across his entire torso.

Thinking that these wounds were probably caused by a hollow, she dreaded to accept that this boy was Toshiro until she realized something. She couldn't feel any spiritual pressure coming from the boy at all. As far as she knew, Urahara wasn't capable of making a gigai that suppressed all traces of spiritual pressure. In fact, he preferred using gigai that didn't conceal spiritual pressure to make it easier for him to track down.

A sigh of relief escaped her lips as she wiped her tears. "Thank goodness that it isn't Toshiro. It's just a coincidence. Now, then," she reached for his wrist to check his pulse, "these wounds look pretty bad and he's lost a lot of blood… Let's hope he's still alive."

Feeling a very weak pulse, a small smile played on her lips and looked back at his face in relief, but found herself taken aback by what she saw. Two unfocused teal eyes stared right into her gray ones. She had forgotten to breathe until a voice that she longed to hear resounded in her ears.

"… Ka… rin…"

Her tear-filled gray eyes widened as she finally allowed reality to take hold of her. She choked on her voice as tears spilled from her eyes while watching the boy struggle to keep his unfocused eyes open. When she finally found her voice, the boy had already drifted back into unconsciousness.

"Toshiro! Wake up!" She pleaded, slapping his cheek lightly. Feeling his breath slow down steadily, Karin screamed. "Please, Toshiro! Keep your eyes open!" Sensing that he could still hear her by his pained expressions, she quickly threw his arm over her shoulder to lift him while continuing to talk to him. "Don't you dare leave me again, Toshiro Hitsugaya! I refuse to let it end like this!"

After struggling to lift him up from the ground, she used her free hand to pull Toshiro's body close to her to support him from falling. Feeling strained by Toshiro's heavy weight, she urged herself to move forward as urgently as possible towards her house. The rain poured mercilessly, refusing to let up, while the wind blew harshly onto their cold, wet bodies. Even then, Karin continued talking to Toshiro in a sense of urgency as she felt his breathing grow ragged.

"Please don't leave me ever again. I will save you, even if it's the last thing I do. You hear me, Toshiro? So please," the girl's body began shaking as she sobbed pleadingly, "don't die."

* * *

A stifled yawn escaped the orange-haired teen as he sat up on his bed, running his hands through his hair as an attempt to wake himself up. Heavy rain rammed continuously against his window along with bright flashes of light that blinded his sleepy eyes. Hearing the thunder roar menacingly, the teen stretched his arms while getting off the bed. His parched throat reminded him of his thirst that caused him to awaken during the middle of the night. Yawning once again, he walked out of his room with zombie-like footsteps that were still quiet enough to not wake his sisters.

He made his way down the stairs, yawning continuously while wishing that a water bottle would magically appear before him without him having to go all the way to the kitchen. Unfortunately for him, life wasn't a fantasy manga where he could summon whatever he needed whenever he needed it. When his autopilot finally brought him in front of the fridge, Ichigo opened the fridge while keeping his eyes mostly closed so his sleepiness wouldn't get disturbed by the fridge's bright light. Feeling around a water bottle that he remembered placing on the shelf, he suddenly felt a cold chill run down his back. Brushing it off as being sleepy, he grabbed the water bottle and began drinking it immediately while heading for the stairs.

Shortly after passing the front door, a loud bang resonated out of nowhere, startling Ichigo to the point that he began choking on his water. Coughing violently, he looked toward the front door and his brown eyes widened.

"Karin? What are you-?" Ichigo immediately caught his breath when he noticed that his sister was supporting a severely wounded white-haired boy. Dropping his water bottle, he rushed towards Karin and lifted the boy bridal style. Feeling worried about the pale complexion on his face as well as his ragged breathing, Ichigo questioned his sister about the boy in his arms. "Is this Toshiro?! What the hell happened to him?!" Glancing back at Karin in hopes of getting an answer, Ichigo couldn't help but frown when he saw Karin staggering and shivering from the cold rain with tears flowing down her cheeks. "Come on. Let's get both of you changed before we try to treat him."

Ichigo carried Toshiro to the clinic part of his house and gently laid the boy on the bed, brushing his bangs away from his face to inspect his pale complexion and his pained breathing. Feeling a bit uncertain of what to do, he noted the severe wounds that span across his torso and cringed. 'These look pretty serious… The old man had to be gone at a time like this…'

"Ichi-nii, could you get a spare set of clothes for Toshiro?" Karin ordered her brother, having regained her composure as she walked to Toshiro with a few towels in hand. "Oh, by that, I mean some boxers and pants would be fine. A shirt would do him no good."

Ichigo nodded and quickly disappeared out of sight, leaving Karin and Toshiro alone in the room. The raven-haired girl debated as to how she would get this to work and decided to do it by removing Toshiro's shirt first. Struggling with his heavy weight, she finally managed for remove the wet, blood-stained shirt that clung to the boy's skin and threw it on the floor. Now able to see the wounds directly, she almost felt nauseated by the strong sent of blood and the severity of his wounds.

Toshiro's wounds were much deeper than what Karin originally thought and the rain having poured on them continuously for a long period of time might've already caused an infection. Strengthening her determination, she wiped off whatever water she could from the upper half of his body, starting from his hair to his torso. She was about to grab for his jeans when her face blushed cherry red.

"W-what am I thinking?" Karin scolded herself while slapping her cheeks. "Now isn't the time for this! Concentrate, Karin. Concentrate."

Blushing fiercely, she undid Toshiro's belt and zipped open his fly to pull his pants down while leaving his boxers alone. 'I-I'll just ask Ichi-nii to change his clothes later…' She thought to herself while throwing the jeans on the floor as well. Managing to dry Toshiro off as much as possible, she began inspecting any other wounds he may have other than the ones on his torso.

"Hey, Karin." Ichigo snapped Karin back to reality from observing Toshiro. "Why don't you change out of your clothes too?" The teen tossed his sister a set of clothes with concern. "It would be bad if you got sick too, don't you agree?"

Karin looked down at herself, forgetting that she too was drenched in water from the rain. "Alright. Can you also help Toshiro?" She asked timidly as blush crept up her cheeks.

"I was gonna do that anyways, stupid. Now, get going." Ichigo scolded her playfully. When Karin was out of sight, he sighed. "Why the hell didn't she tell me to change his clothes in the first place?"

* * *

**A/N:**

**So? How was it? Did I redeem myself?**

**Also, just to clarify things, this fanfiction is definitely rated T. It's just… um… *blush* … I wanted Karin to struggle a little in trying to nurse Toshiro back to health…**

**A-anyways! Please review and tell me what you think!**


	5. Painful Weariness

**A/N:**

**Reviews! More Reviews! Yuuki-Chan is a happy camper now! Thank you so much for the support.**

**By the way, be happy that I've updated so soon compared to before. ^_^**

**Oh, but don't get used to eat cause it might not happen again. Yuuki-Chan is a busy lil' one, but I'll still try my hardest to update sooner!**

**Enjoy! Review! Aye sir! (Fairy Tail reference, but I should probably use something Bleach, right? Any ideas?)**

* * *

An unconscious figure – impossible to distinguish its features – lay floating deep within a dark abyss, devoid of life and consisting of nothing but nothingness. It was as though it was trapped by the invisible ominous hands of darkness, forcing the figure to never regain consciousness. To be honest, the figure was perfectly alright with that – alright with the fact that it may never regain consciousness nor see the light of day ever again. In fact, it felt like the figure was in absolute bliss since in this abyss, things like emotions weren't necessary. After all, it was the abyss of nothingness. However, the figure still felt strangely restless.

There was something he still had to do.

As the boy slowly began to feel a type of motivation building in him in place of the bliss caused by the nothingness, he slowly opened his eyes and stared in the abyss absentmindedly. He outstretched his arms as if to grab something in the empty void in front of him, but his hands grasped nothing. His glazed eyes glanced over his empty palms and the empty space all around him for some sort of sign – something to tell him what he had to do. However, there was another problem.

He didn't know who he was.

Not his name nor his appearance.

He was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Almost on the verge of giving up so soon, he decided to forget all about everything and allow the darkness to envelop him once again until a voice called out to him.

… _Toshiro…_

Toshiro? Ah, that's right. His name was Toshiro. …But what was his last name? No, rather whose voice was that?

… _Don't you dare leave me again, Toshiro Hitsugaya!"_

Leave? Where was he leaving? He wasn't willing to leave the empty void since it was rather comfortable for him.

… _So please_, the voice began sobbing,_ don't die._

Karin.

The boy's eyes widened as life returned to his eyes upon remembering her name. The darkness around him began taking a different shape and instead of the empty void, it transformed into scenery he knew so well. It was the hill he always went to in Karakura to see the sunset and in front of the silver railing, there was a raven-haired girl with shoulder-length hair looking out towards the orange-tinted sky.

Toshiro approached the girl's back and was about to grab her attention by placing his hand on her shoulder, but was taken aback by the girl's sudden action. Almost as if she knew that he was coming, she turned around and slapped his hand away, tears streaming down her face. She glared angrily at the boy in front of her with nothing but hatred and contempt. There was no sign of any other emotion in her gray eyes except venom towards the boy named Toshiro Hitsugaya.

"Don't you dare touch me, you freak!" She shrieked, backing away from the railing. "Why the hell did you come back?"

Toshiro was frozen in place, staring into her eyes full of hatred as if he was being burned in hell itself. After a while, he finally registered what happened and frowned, hurt evident in his teal eyes. "… Why? I came back for you. That's why…"

The girl who he refused to believe that she was Karin scoffed. "For me? What nonsense. You didn't come back for me," she stated accusingly while pointing at Toshiro, "but rather, you came for yourself."

"What the hell are-?"

"Oh, just shut up. If you really came for me, then tell me this." She paused as she approached Toshiro, jabbing him in the chest with her finger. "Where the hell were you these past 17 months?"

His teal eyes averted her scorning gray ones while he tried searching for the right words. "… I… I couldn't come..."

The raven-haired girl's gaze hardened as she grabbed Toshiro's face to force him to look at her. "And why was that? You promised, didn't you?" The white-haired boy opened his mouth to justify himself, but the girl cut him off. "You went back on your word. That's all there is to it." She then roughly pushed Toshiro away from her and the action was so sudden that the he lost his balance, causing him to fall onto the floor. "Well, tough luck, Hitsugaya-san, but I've already moved on." She pulled out a green ribbon from her pocket and held it above her head. The wind blew violently onto the ribbon as if it was eager to snatch it away to someplace far away. "This is what was binding us together, right? Well, in that case, I'll release both of us from this cursed bond." She released the ribbon and just as Toshiro feared, the wind blew away the ribbon far beyond the hill. He watched it silently with sadness reflecting in his teal eyes until the ribbon was nothing more than a spec in his vision. "And with this, there's nothing between us now."

* * *

Teal eyes shot wide open as Toshiro sweated profusely, panting heavily to allow the high levels of adrenaline to leave his body. The sudden action of revealing his eyes to the bright light caused him to immediately cover his eyes with his hand as well as clamping his eyelids shut again. The slight jolt from his nightmare caused intense pain to course through his beaten body. He groaned painfully while slowly opening his eyes to adjust to the light between the spaces of his fingers.

His view was rather restricted due to his hand obstructing the view, but even so, he couldn't quite tell where he was. Moving his hand from his face, he stared at an unfamiliar ceiling – no, rather it was a ceiling that he hadn't seen for so long that it felt unfamiliar. His teal eyes quickly scanned the room as his lips formed a frown.

The ceiling that he thought was familiar to him was in fact the ceiling of a small personal clinic set up in someone's house. White eyebrows furrowed while Toshiro racked his brain to figure out how he ended up in this rather unfamiliar place. Sure, the ceiling did remind him a little about Karin's – no, Kurosaki's house, but he wasn't aware of them owning a clinic. Well, at least, now he hoped that he wasn't currently in their clinic even if they did own one.

Shaking his head to clear his off-tangent thoughts, he felt pain surge through his body again as another groan escaped his lips. He directed his attention towards the source and noted that his abdomen was covered in bandages – more of them wrapped diagonally towards his left shoulder. Suddenly, Toshiro remembered being attacked by a hollow on one of his patrols where he had an unfortunate turn of events. By a lucky or unlucky chance of fate, he was still in his gigai, so that probably meant that someone must've found him collapsed and brought him here.

Feeling fed up with the throbbing headache he's had for a while, Toshiro began rubbing his temples in order to relieve himself of the intense pain. Silently cursing his misfortune for ending up in his current condition, he inwardly grimaced at the possibility that his headache may be the result of his ragged breathing and constant sweating. In order words, he probably had a fever.

"… Ugh, I feel like shit…" Toshiro groaned, finally giving up on relieving the overwhelming senses of pain.

"No kidding." A feminine voice laughed. "You look like shit." Having being caught completely off guard, the white-haired boy reflexively jolted up to a sitting position, causing his whole body to shriek from the sudden motion. Toshiro coughed violently while clutching his abdomen as the voice panicked. "Wha-? Don't do that, stupid! Your wounds are going to open up again."

Footsteps approached him urgently and just as he felt a pair of arms reach for him, Toshiro grabbed the stranger's hand while glaring at her. Pained teal eyes bore into surprised yet worried gray eyes as realization dawned at the boy. His teal eyes widened, glancing over the stranger's face. His grip slackened on her hand as he opened his mouth in almost disbelief, whispering the stranger's name.

"… Karin…?"

* * *

**A/N:**

**So did ya like it? Did ya?! I hope you did.**

**Also, sorry if the chapter was too short. _**

**I really tried lengthening it, but changing the perspective from Toshiro to Karin didn't really work. And I really want it to be in Karin's perspective otherwise IT WON'T WORK!**

**Please review though! A jar of cookies will be given to each reviewer! You can even pick the kind of cookies you want. *evil laugh* Mwahahahaha! Come to the dark side and collect your cookies!**

***clears throat* Ahem. Please do review.**


	6. New Problem: A Fever

**A/N:**

**Yay! High School is over for me! Now, next up… College…**

**Anyways, I wrote this chapter as soon as I could. I hope you will enjoy it!**

* * *

The sound of someone snoring lightly and the few rays of sunlight shining through the glass onto the raven-haired girl's eyes caused her eyelids to flutter open. With her mind still clouded with sleep, she instinctively looked to her side where her brother was sleeping with his head rested against the wall. Furrowing her brows in confusion, she was just about to ask him why they were both sleeping on the floor right outside the clinic until she widened her eyes in realization.

"Toshiro!" Karin shouted urgently as she shot off the ground.

Remembering her sleeping brother, she slapped her hands across her mouth and cautiously looked to see if her outburst had awakened him. Much to her relief, he was still sound asleep. It seemed that he had also overworked himself to the bone while helping her look after Toshiro.

Silently yet urgently, she quickly entered the room where the white-haired boy was resting. Approaching his bed, she let out a sigh of relief as she looked over his bandaged, beaten body. The color that had drained from his face had returned to his natural light tan color. His breathing, which could've hardly been heard before, on the most part had returned to normal. However, a problem of a different type had arisen in the place of the dangers he was facing before.

A fever.

It was a rather simple occurrence which normally did not pose much of a problem to an individual, but in Toshiro's case, his body was already too weak to effectively fight against the illness. A white cloth on his forehead now soaked with sweat, his flushed skin, ragged breathing, and a pained expression on his face reminded Karin of his fever, bringing a frown onto her face. Not only did his wounds cause him enough pain as it is but the fever also continued to torture him while he rested.

Karin sighed with frustration as she removed the sweat-soaked cloth from Toshiro's forehead and walked to the other end of the room. She had just dropped the cloth into a bowl of now lukewarm water until she heard a grunt of pain. She turned slowly to look at the boy lying on the bed as a small smile formed on her lips.

Much earlier than expected, Toshiro had regained consciousness, placing a hand over his eyes as he looked at the ceiling with a puzzled expression. Removing his hand from his face, he directed his attention to his bandaged-covered abdomen with the same pained yet troubled expression. It seemed that he had completely forgotten as to how he got into the pitiful state that he was in. As if he had finally realized as to how he ended up in his current condition, Karin held back a chuckle as she saw him breathe a few curses under his breath while massaging his temples. Seemingly enough, he wasn't exactly sure of where to give his attention since his beaten body screamed at him from all directions.

Since Toshiro hadn't sensed Karin in the room due to his overloaded senses, she enjoyed looking at his various expressions and actions. It was a drastic change compared to how lifeless he was when she had just found him.

"… Ugh, I feel like shit…"

As soon as Toshiro's words reached her, she burst out laughing at last, no longer able to control her laughter. "No kidding. You look like shit." Alarmed by the sudden realization that he wasn't the only one in the room, he reflexively shot up to look for the source, immediately causing him to yelp in pain. Karin gaped in shock as the words jumbled together as she rushed towards the violently coughing boy. "Wha-? Don't do that, stupid! Your wounds are going to open up again."

When she reached him and was about to rub his back, she was completely caught off guard by the amount of hostility he displayed. While still coughing violently, he roughly gripped her hand, glaring at her through his pained turquoise eyes as he tried to endure the pain. His cold eyes bore into her own as she felt them scan over her cautiously as if she were a stranger. It was clear that he still couldn't bring himself to trust anyone right off the bat, even if that person may have saved his life.

As she waited for his eyes to recognize her with a small frown, she noticed the hostility disappear from his eyes and was now replaced with confusion. Scanning over her face once again, his hardened gaze softened and became a mixture of shock and disbelief. Toshiro's grip on her hand slackened as his whisper barely reached Karin's ears.

"… Karin…?"

After hearing her name leave his lips, the raven-haired girl remained stiff as she peered into his uncertain eyes. Both seemed to be at a complete loss as to what they should say or react now that they were face-to-face. After a few moments of staring into each other eyes, Toshiro realized that he was still gripping onto Karin's hand. Immediately snatching his hand away, he averted his gaze with an expression that Karin was unable to name.

Noticing that the boy seemed to be slightly uncomfortable based on his tense posture and tight grip on the bed sheets, Karin took in a deep breath before sitting on the bed beside him. That action seemed to make him even more aware of her presence as he resolved to keep himself from looking at her. It almost seemed as if he didn't want to be in Karin's presence at the moment. As if he was running away from her.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Karin felt her heart break as tears began to well in her gray eyes. Scolding herself mentally for being weak all of a sudden, she tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall by forcing out a laugh.

"Hey, Toshiro," she began while moving her hand to touch his forehead, "what's wrong? You're not feeling shy, are you?"

Her fingers had merely brushed against his skin when Toshiro suddenly slapped her hand away. "D-don't touch me!" He shouted in a stern voice that seemed to be mixed with anger and fear. The sudden shock of being rejected by the man she loved caused tears to run down her face.

"W-why…?" She asked as her voice began breaking.

The sight of tears running down Karin's face seemed to snap Toshiro back to reality. A guilty expression with concern appeared on his face as he opened his mouth a few times like a fish out of water.

"N-no… Karin, I'm sorry… I didn't–" Toshiro tried explaining himself as he brought his hand to wipe her tears – or so she thought. For some reason, he had stopped midway – unable to bring his hand closer.

At that point, she had stopped listening and began rambling on her own as if drunk on her tears and the overwhelming sadness. Wiping her tears in a way that a child who had lost their balloons would, she spoke in between sobs, voicing her complaints at the injured shinigami.

"W-why…? Why won't you… look at me…? Why… won't you touch me…? I…" Her entire body started shaking from how hard she was crying. Her hiccups between sobs could be heard more than her words. "I waited for you… for so long… I… I was… so happy… to see you again… B-but… when I found you… I was scared… I thought you were going to die… that you were… going to leave me…And now… because of you… I'm…"

Her sobbing was gradually getting worse which was beginning to make Toshiro worry. "Karin, calm down. I'm– " However, what Karin said next caused Toshiro's eyes to widen.

"… I hate you… I hate you so much… for–"

"Karin, I heard you shouting! What happened?!" A voice roared as someone entered the clinic in a panic.

Honey-colored eyes widened in shock as he witnessed the scene of his sister sobbing and the boy she saved look at her with a guilty expression. Blood rushed to the teen's head as he went for the boy responsible for making Karin cry. Before Karin knew it, Ichigo had a hold of Toshiro's neck and had pressed him against the wall.

"Y-you bastard!" Ichigo shouted in contempt, not caring that he was choking an injured and feverish boy. "What the hell did you do to Karin?!"

"Ichi-nii! Stop!" She shrieked as she ran to pull her brother's arm from Toshiro. "Stop it! Please! You're hurting him!"

A few pained wheezes escaped Toshiro as he tried to pull Ichigo's hand away, but it was to no avail. He was already barely holding onto consciousness due to his ridiculously high fever, but now he was dangerously fading in and out of consciousness from the lack of air. As if resigning to his fate of being murdered by Karin's brother, his arms fell limply to his side from having lost the already little strength he had left.

Alarmed by this action, Karin burst into tears once more and pleaded to her anger-driven brother. "Ichi-nii, stop! You're killing him! You've got it wrong! He didn't do anything!"

"**ICHIGO KUROSAKI! RELEASE TOSHIRO HITSUGAYA AT ONCE!**" The voice boomed with authority, leaving no room for argument.

Just as he was ordered, Ichigo released Toshiro, causing the boy to immediately slide against the wall. In the midst of wheezing painfully and coughing violently, Toshiro clutched at his injured chest as he gasped desperately for air to enter his lungs.

With his mind still clouded with rage, Ichigo looked at the person who had just entered the clinic. "What the hell do you want, Oyaji?"

With a suitcase in hand and the jacket of his suit hanging over his shoulder, Isshin Kurosaki stood at the door of the clinic with a stern expression on his face. Extreme disappointment as well as a hint of anger was evident in his eyes at the rash actions of his son. He placed his suitcase on the floor, speaking with the same authorize voice as earlier.

"Why the hell is it that the first thing I see when I enter the house from a long business trip is you at Toshiro's neck?"

Having no real reason to offer since he had jumped to conclusions, the teen refused to speak while glaring at his father. Sensing that his son had nothing sensible to say, he looked over to his frantic daughter who was trying to assure herself that Toshiro was well and alive. Tears ran down her face as if she was sure that her brother had killed the poor boy. As for Toshiro, he at first attempted to calm her down by saying that he was alright, but gave up soon after. He simply seemed way too tired of the way things turned out.

While Isshin was debating about whether he should ask Karin about what happened, Toshiro passed out as if his body had finally reached its limit. Sighing, he quickly rushed over and placed his hand on the boy's forehead.

"Shit… A fever… Should've known…" He lifted the boy from the ground and while placing him on the bed, he looked at Ichigo with a stern gaze. "Tell me what happened while I was gone. **_Both_** of you."

* * *

**A/N:**

**So, how was it?**

**This chapter relatively difficult for me to write, but I managed to pull it off!**

**Please give me your opinions. It felt like getting the mood in this chapter was difficult? Different?**

**By the way, what was it that Ichigo calls his dad? Oyaji? Otou-san? Oji-san?**

**(I can't seem to remember…)**

**Anyways, please do review!**


End file.
